3.Getting started#

After a correct installation of the TickerPoint add-on, you will see a TickerPoint entry in your Microsoft PowerPoint menu.

TickerPoint will display a continuous running ticker over all slides in your Microsoft PowerPoint presentation. To set the ticker properties you have to go to the Slide master because there you set properties valid for all slides. To go to the slide master, click View > Slide master.

The TickerPoint ticker is always hosted in a Microsoft PowerPoint text box. You can set up multiple tickers. To insert a text box click Insert > Text box and draw a new text box on your slide.

Select the text box by clicking the border. When the cursor is inside the text box, you will not be able to set the TickerPoint options. You need to select the frame. With this text box selected, you can go to ticker TickerPoint options by clicking TickerPoint from the menu.

Make sure that you select the text box by clicking the border of the text box. When you are in a text box you can only change the text content manually and change the text formatting.

Specify text replacements when there is no information returned from the data source or when an error occurs during the retrieval of the ticker.

Miscellaneous

Check our support section and check for updates.

4.Ticker data source#

The source identifies where the text for the ticker is coming from. There are various sources possible like fixed text, databases like Microsoft Access and Microsoft SQL Server, Excel spreadsheets, XML files, RSS news feeds and more.

4.1.Fixed text#

Use the option ‘fixed text’ if you just want to display text, not connected to a database or file. Select the TickerPoint shape and click TickerPoint > Fixed text (from the source group).

Enter the text that you want to display in the ticker. Click OK and start the slideshow.

4.2.Microsoft Access#

Please execute the following steps to connect the content of your ticker to a database of a Microsoft SQL Server. There are 2 ways to connect to a Microsoft SQL Server; via Windows NT integrated security or via a username and password combination. Contact your database administrator for more information.

Enter the name or IP address of the server hosting the Microsoft SQL Server, the name of the database and the user information. Click Test to ensure that the database can be reached.

Like a connection to a Microsoft Access database, you will now see a list of tables and views or you can enter a custom SQL statement to retrieve your information.

Select the table or view or query that you want to use and click Next.

Select one or more columns from the list to include its information in the ticker text.

Optionally, you can filter the information and finally you can set the sequence of the chosen columns but only if more than one column was chosen from the available columns list.

4.3.Microsoft SQL Server#

Please execute the following steps to connect the content of your ticker to a database of a Microsoft SQL Server. There are 2 ways to connect to a Microsoft SQL Server; via Windows NT integrated security or via a username and password combination. Contact your database administrator for more information.

Enter the name or IP address of the server hosting the Microsoft SQL Server, the name of the database and the user information. Click Test to ensure that the database can be reached.

Just like a connection to a Microsoft Access database, you will now see a list of tables and views or you can enter a custom SQL statement to retrieve your information.

Select the table or view or query that you want to use and click Next.

Select 1 or more columns from the list to include its information in the ticker text.

Optionally, you can filter the information and finally you can set the sequence of the chosen columns but only if more than one column was chosen from the available columns list.

4.4.ODBC#

ODBC is a generic way to connect to databases. An ODBC connection or definition needs to be available already on your system.

When you chose to use an ODBC connection for your ticker, then click ODBC in the source menu group and you will get a list of all ODBC connections declared on your computer. Pick one, enter a username and password to authenticate and click the Next button.

Select the table, view or query that you want to use and click Next.

Select 1 or more columns from the list to include its information in the ticker text.

Optionally, you can filter the information and finally you can set the sequence of the chosen columns but only if more than one column was chosen from the available columns list.

4.5.OLE DB#

Object Linking and embedding database is an API designed by Microsoft that allows accessing data from a variety of sources in a uniform manner. Depending on the database or device type you have to use a specific connection string that allows you to talk to the database or device.

In this example, we will just use a connection string to connect to a Microsoft Access database, or Jet engine.

Click Next to connect to the database and it will get a list of tables and queries.

Select the table or view or query that you want to use and click Next.

Select 1 or more columns from the list to include its information in the ticker text.

Optionally, you can filter the information and finally you can set the sequence of the chosen columns. But, only if more than one column was chosen from the available columns list.

4.6.Microsoft Excel spreadsheets#

Excel is not really a database but it offers the possibility to enter and store information in a very common way without being a database expert.

TickerPoint can connect to a worksheet of a spreadsheet and read out the information of 1 or multiple columns.

Browse for the Excel file, select the datasheet that you want to use and enter the range of cells to include.

The range of an Excel worksheet is set in the typical Excel range notation like A1:D10 meaning all the data from columns A till D and rows 1 till 10.

Click Next to connect to the Excel file and it will get a list of columns that you can choose from.

Select 1 or more columns from the list to include its information in the ticker text.

Optionally, you can filter the information and finally you can set the sequence of the chosen columns. But, only if more than one column was chosen from the available columns list.

4.7.Text files#

You can also get the ticker text from a text file. Most common text files are tab delimited files where you will find a TAB character between 2 columns.

Browse for the file and indicate what delimiter (to separate columns of a line) can be used. Click Next to get the columns of the file.

Select 1 or more columns from the list to include the information in the ticker text.

Optionally, you can filter the information and finally you can set the sequence of the chosen columns. But, only if more than one column was chosen from the available columns list.

4.8.XML files#

TickerPoint can also read the information from an xml file. This file can resides on a local hard disk but also on a remote website. Browse for the file or enter the URL of the remote xml file.

After that the wizard will read out the xml file and scan for existing tables. Select the table that you want to work with.

Select 1 or more columns from the list to include its information in the ticker text.

Optionally, you can filter the information and finally you can set the sequence of the chosen columns. But, only if more than one column was chosen from the available columns list.

4.9.RSS News feeds#

TickerPoint can also read out news from a local or remote RSS feed. Browse for the local file and enter the URL of the remote RSS feed, e.g. http://rss.cnn.com/rss/edition.rss.

Select 1 or more columns from the list to include its information in the ticker text.

Optionally, you can filter the information and finally you can set the sequence of the chosen columns. But, only if more than one column was chosen from the available columns list.

5.Ticker setup#

In the ticker setup group of the TickerPoint menu you can set the scrolling direction and the scrolling speed. Also you can hide or show the dynamic ticker text boxes or refresh its content (in design mode).

The speed is expressed on a scale from 1 to 10, slow to fast.

6.Text options#

The text group of the TickerPoint menu allows you to set some text replacements.

Option

Description

Error

Whenever an error occurs while retrieving the text of your ticker, this text here will be shown instead in the ticker. A typically usage for this could be something like ‘We have a technical problem. Sorry for this inconvenience.’.

Prefix

A prefix text that comes before your ticker text like ‘CNN says:‘ or ‘Latest news:’.

Empty

When no rows of information could be found in the database, then this text can be shown. E.g. ‘No teacher absences today’.

Separator

This character or characters are used in between 2 records from your database. In case of news messages this separator character (e.g. *) will be placed between the titles of 2 articles.

7.Miscellaneous#

In the Miscellaneous group of the TickerPoint menu, you will find a few options to use your software product and to keep your system healthy.

Click the Website option to go to the PresentationPoint website. Online help and frequently asked questions can be found by clicking the Help button. The Check for updates button checks for free product updates and finally the About button gives you information about the status of your trial or license and also displays the version number of TickerPoint.

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CounterPoint, DataPoint, Dynamic ELEMENTS, iPoint, MessagePoint, NewsPoint, OutlookPoint, PlanPoint, ShowPoint, TickerPoint and VideoPoint are trademarks or registered trademarks of PresentationPoint. Microsoft and the Office logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and/or other countries.